Voya tops among life insurers, BCBS Michigan among boomers for health insurers in customer survey

FOSTER CITY, Calif. – Voya was ranked the best life insurance company by a comfortable margin in a new survey released Dec. 2 by Insure.com, which also released a new survey (see next page) of health insurers as ranked by boomer customers.

Insure.com surveyed 1,690 customers of 15 leading life insurance companies in the United States for its 2017 rankings of the best companies for life insurance.

Voya’s overall score of 97.1 bested second-place State Farm (92.5) and third-place John Hancock (90.4) thanks to obtaining the highest rankings in the survey for value for price, customer service and customers who recommend.

Respondents to the survey gave ratings based on insurance company factors for those three categories. Policyholders were not asked about likelihood to renew or claims process, as they were in Insure.com’s auto, home and health sections.

“The scoring factors for life insurance are different due to the one-time nature of life insurance policies. This ups the ante in each category, making each score worth more,” said Penny Gusner, consumer analyst for Insure.com.

This year, the life insurance category is topped with financial heavy hitters. Voya, formerly known as ING, and State Farm are both Fortune 500 regulars, and John Hancock, which has offered life insurance for over 150 years.

“The financial strength and reputation of your life insurance company is critical,” Gusner says, “as you want to be confident that company will still be around in 30 or so years.”

The overall trend observed is that smaller, leaner companies specializing in their particular line or region seems to be more successful at keeping their customers happier than those that are large enough to spread to every type of coverage and financial product. That said, there were a couple of successful Goliaths.

“It’s remarkable that State Farm and Allstate are able to maintain such high marks in customer service,” Gusner said. “It’s not uncommon to see companies as large and with such diverse products lose the ability to keep customer service at the heart of the company values.”

Methodology: Insure.com commissioned Op4G to survey more than 1,690 insurance customers nationwide in June 2016. The survey collected customer ratings for 15 leading companies in the life category. Only current customers of the insurers on Insure.com’s lists were surveyed, and the survey was not open to the general public on the Insure.com website. Life insurers were ranked according to a weighted 3-point measurement of the following factors: customer service, value for price and would recommend. Weighted measurements were derived from surveyed policyholders’ rank of prioritization of these factors. The A.M. Best ratings, discounts and coverage options noted in the survey do not affect the scores, but are provided as a supplementary resource.

Insure.com makes these ratings freely available via their website. The views and opinions expressed by users do not reflect the views and opinions of Insure.com. Insure.com expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with the ratings.

About Insure.com:Insure.com provides a comprehensive array of information on auto insurance, home insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The site offers an extensive library of originally authored insurance articles and decision-making tools that are not available from any other single source, including its extensive car insurance discounts tool. For more information, please visit QuinStreet.com.

Survey ranks BCBS of Michigan as top health insurer for baby boomers

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was ranked the top health insurance company for Baby Boomers in a new survey conducted by Insure.com, released on Dec. 2.

Respondents to the survey between the ages of 51 and 69 gave ratings based on the following insurance company factors: customer service, claims handling, value for price, plan to renew, and would recommend.

The results of the Baby Boomer survey echoed those found in the general study in which regional insurers lead in the overall satisfaction results. Baby Boomers favored Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates this year, which were all strong in the “value for price” category. Members of this demographic become eligible for Medicare at 65, and since opinion of the program is generally favorable, companies may have received a boost from Medicare-enrolled members.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was No. 2 in the general survey, but came in first with Baby Boomers. Blue Shield of California was second, and Philadelphia-based insurer Independence Blue Cross came in third. Independence Blue Cross, or IBX as it’s known, is one of these 38 independent Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees and covers the specific counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.

“The Baby Boomers are a group at a particular age where health claims are going to increase,” says Jennifer Shelton, managing editor of Insure.com. “Unlike Millennials, these are people who are likely using their networks and dealing with claims on a fairly regular basis. In a notoriously difficult industry to navigate, I’m glad to see such high overall scores.”

Here is how the top 15 health insurers were ranked by boomers customers:

Methodology: Insure.com commissioned Op4G to survey more than 3,700 insurance customers nationwide in June 2016. The survey collected customer ratings for 15 leading companies in the health category. Only current customers of the insurers on Insure.com’s lists were surveyed, and the survey was not open to the general public on the Insure.com website. Health insurers were ranked according to a weighted 5-point measurement of the following factors: customer service, claims processing, value for price, would recommend and would renew. Weighted measurements were derived from surveyed policyholders’ rank of prioritization of these factors. The A.M. Best ratings, discounts and coverage options noted in the survey do not affect the scores, but are provided as a supplementary resource.

Insure.com makes these ratings freely available via their site. The views and opinions expressed by users do not reflect the views and opinions of Insure.com. Insure.com expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with the ratings.

About Insure.com:Insure.com provides a comprehensive array of information on auto insurance, home insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The site offers an extensive library of originally authored insurance articles and decision-making tools that are not available from any other single source, including its extensive car insurance discounts tool. For more information, please visit QuinStreet.com.